Our 20th House Closing today!

We bought our first home at 119 East Sunrise Dr., Lexington Park, MD in about 1974.
We bought 512 South Main, Lexington, VA in 1977.
Whilst in Lexington, VAl we also bought a house for $12k, which I think we sold for about $21k.
We also bought that house with the dead guy in it.
In 1980 we bought Milledge Circle, Athens Ga.
Whilst in GA, we bought Morton Ave., and
another brick ranch with which we didn't do much.
In Alabama we bought 40 Bellwood, then
4615 Allums, and then
312 Legacy Oaks in Lynchburg, VA.
Today we bought 809 Lakeside, Pl, Northport. We have sold all except these last two.


So, we have bought 11 times, and sold 9, which makes today our 20th closing. In the next few months Kelly and Michael will buy 4615 Allums, making our 21st, and perhaps LAST closing. Maybe not, we shall see.

Closings are interesting. There is always a small bit of tension, in that large sums of money are typically exchanged.  We certainly thought so when we paid $29.9k for our first home. Needless to say, today's purchase was a lot more, a bit under 8x more.

But, all went smoothly, thanks be to G^d. We will NOT be moving in immediately, as we are renting the home back to the family from which we purchased it. They are buying a new place and moving in a few weeks. We are excited.  Here is the new place,

Not the Crimson Tide, but the RED tide!

We arrived in Panama City Beach on Monday, 17 August. When we checked in at Laguna Beach, our friend Jeremy told us that the red tide was over.  I thanked him, but at the moment failed to realize how MUCH I should have thanked G^d that it was over.

Yep, those are dead fish and a bunch of dead eels from maybe 10 feet of beach!  I had NO idea that there were SO many eels in the Gulf. They littered the shore. That wasn't the worst part. I can't do this part justice, but take a look.

Yes, the shore was littered too, with puncture hazards!  These teeth were not the worst hazard. I am not sure how many vertebrae fish and eels have, but I do know they make little "thumbtacks" pointed mostly upwards. The first day, these things impaled me at least three times.

BUT, the tide was over, and every succeeding day the beach cleaned itself more and more. And, even with the eels, hey it's still one of the most beautiful beaches in the entire world!  What a Blessing!  Thanks be to G^D!

Whipped!

Whew, getting old is ROUGH!

I don't recall being this tired before.  Brenda and I spent two weeks down in FL, whereupon I immediately left for MN and WI.  We had a week back, but left Sunday afternoon for UNA, in beautiful Florence, AL.

In FL, I gave 13 talks, in WI, I gave 6.  ALL the FL talks were brand-new, and those always take a bit more effort and energy, and a LOT more prep.

But, as Brenda said it, I was in my element.  Indeed I feel called to what we are doing in our ministry.  But again, we aren't quite a young and energetic as we were once!

So, last night we went to bed before 7 PM--a new record!!

I guess in retrospect, there was a logical reason we have been tired...we have done a LOT of tiring stuff!

But, we are thrilled to have this opportunity to minister and to serve the true and living G^d!

Thanks be to G^d for his Blessings-- even if they are tiring.  G^d made a day of rest.

May G^d grant us all rest.

Three Weeks at the End of Summer

Whew!  I got in last night a bit before midnight--a late night for an old guy!

Brenda and I have just completed a 3-week marathon. It was joyful, but tiring.  We started out with a week alone at LBCR, Panama City Beach, FL. Doesn't sound too tough, eh?  True enough, but on Sunday we moved from our efficiency into the "Big House" with about 12-14-18 other folk.

That was for a 6-day-long Wellness Week. It was a blast. Once a day I gave one talk on some aspect of Wellness- relational, Emotional, Physical, Spiritual; and each day I gave a talk on the Feast of Tabernacles (Sukkot).  This was the first time I had ever spoken on EITHER of these topics, so I had to plan the talks, adapt them to the other speaker, and then give them. Add that to daily runs, very long walks that Brenda and I took on the beach, and we were BOTH pretty tired.

I gave a summary devotional Sunday AM, and Brenda and I drove home to Northport. We got in Sunday afternoon and about 24 hours later I left for BHM airport, where I flew to ATL, and then to MSP- Minneapolis-St. Paul. At 0700, one of our Cru friends picked me up at the hotel and we started 6 FULL days of ministry... but that will be another post next week.

Here are a few photos from the Wellness Week.

The Beach in September

Brenda and I had the opportunity to spend some time in Panama City Beach the end of September where we did a Wellness Retreat for a bunch of Christian singles from around the SE USA. We have never, to our recollection been to the beach at this time of year. For most of our lives, I have been either a student or a teacher this time of year, and busy, busy. Because it is a 5-hour drive, we went down several days early to enjoy some "couple time", which I highly recommend to all married couples.  Kids are great, but your spouse MUST be your highest priority, or...

We noted several differences from late-spring visits, our norm. The place was NOT crowded, even on the weekend. The weather was different too. The water was flatter than we have ever seen. And flat water means there was little wind. This was the first time ever that insects, flies, bothered us due to the lack of wind.

As some might notice, the sea oats were fully mature. They are beautiful, and you'll see some more in a later post.

Attention!

I JUST finished reading a www post about a young man who is a HIGHLY committed Christian in one of the US military academies. The piece talked a bit about how the key character had come to Christ in High School, and had enlisted in the military.  In the military he was discipled by the Navigator ministry.  Upon reporting to the academy (unspecified) he proceeded to continue to grow in his faith and lead others to the Christ.

You can read it here: https://www.navigators.org/growing-disciplemakers/?apcode=DH00007&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Disciple%20Weekly%209182018&utm_content=Disciple%20Weekly%209182018+CID_20487b0e798459166451ece44d026431&utm_source=Campaign%20Monitor&utm_term=Continue%20Reading

It's a GREAT story, right?  Well, almost.  Here's what REALLY caught my attention. The hero in the story was identified by a pseudonym. The academy where he studies was NOT identified. Now this strikes me because I have a LOT of missionary friends who work in closed countries, like East Asia, the Middle East, and Northern Africa. They use the same tactics of being careful NOT to reveal names and locations.

Do you see WHY I was bothered?  Think about it. We are NOW treating, or at least the author of the article is treating, the US service academies as if they were a HOSTILE environment for Christianity. Hmm, think about that.

Two or three years past, the USAFA got in trouble for being too Christian!  What?  Yep, and my time at USNA, and USMA, was a great time of Christian growth.

But, this got my attention.  Did it get yours?

Church Congregations over these MANY years

My earliest recollection of church was First Baptist, Canton, GA.  I spent many a happy hour there singing in the graded choir program (I was terrible), and also on Royal Ambassadors, where our most memorable teacher was Norman Sosebee. Pastor W.W. Long came to our home and sat on the Living room sofa and shared the gospel, which I had already accepted.  I was baptized in fdirst Baptist promptly afterwards. We scarcely missed a Sunday attendance until I left for USNA, where I promptly joined College Avenue Baptist and was "adopted" by the Bausum Family who nurtured me, and fed me for 4 years plus the summer after I graduated and Brenda and I lived in their home whilst they toured the USA in their camper.

When back in Canton, Brenda and I attended Oakdale Baptist, Brenda's home church. We visited there again Sunday, and much has stayed the same, whilst much changed. Our pastor at Oakdale was Marvin Frady.

After getting orders to go to NFO school in Pensacola, we joined Fairfield Drive Baptist where our pastor was Preacher Bryant, who befriended us warmly and often invited us over to play dominoes. Although we were only there a few months, I taught a youth Sunday School class there, and Brenda sang a solo. When she sang a solo of "How Great thou Art", and the thunder truly rolled just as she got to that part of the lyrics.

"O Lord my God! When I in awesome wonder

Consider all the works Thy hand hath made.

I see the stars, I hear the rolling thunder,

Thy power throughout the universe displayed."   YEP- right on que!

In Rhode island we were in an American Baptist church. When we reported to the squadron in Patuxent River, MD, we joined Lexington Part Baptist Church. When we moved to Lexington, VA, we walked half a block to join Faith Presbyterian, a Reformed Presbyterian Church, where I was nominated for deacon. I spent about 3 months along with Charlie and Bob W. Chiefly those two guys watched the pastor, Fred M, argue about Calvinism and predestination. 

That brought us to Grad School in Athens, GA, where we were members of Faith Presbyterian, PCA. We loved it there and were discipled including Col. 2:7 Navigator discipleship--and those guys KNOW discpleship!

In Tuscaloosa, for our first 7 years we attended First Baptist Tuscaloosa, where we taught a peer SS class that was very close relationally. From there we moved to Houston and attended Bay Area Pres (PCA), and when we moved back to Tuscaloosa, we joined Grace, our home church since 1992. I was instrumental in hiring Fred Schuckert as our pastor, and then again in hiring Ben Talmadge. In New York we attended a Conservative Baptist Church, and in Sweden we attended an EFS congregation--an offshoot of the Lutheran Church. In Botswana we attended Open Baptist Church. In Lynchburg we attended Mercy Pres (PCA).

We have participated in quite a number of congregations. All have had strong and weak points--but all have been great in their own way.  Thanks be to G^d for His church--the Body of Christ!

Ober Gatlinburg!

As I wrote earlier, Brenda and I had a “free” hotel for three nights in Gatlinburg, and all we had to do was sit through a 2-hour hard-sell for a timeshare. Well, that’s the price you pay…

I had a 50^th class reunion for my Cherokee High Class, we took Brenda’s sister, Barbara Ann, to church at the small Baptist Church where Brenda and I were married, and the congregation closest to her house. It was great to see her having fun socializing with those very friendly folks, most of whom already knew Barb.

After church we took the long and winding road for a bit over 4 hours to get to our resort in Gatlinburg. We arrived late enough that we wanted to get checked in, get some supper and go to bed. Brenda and I found a real grocery and bough supper and a few extras.  So after a nice supper of chicken, mashed potatoes, and bluberries, we went to sleep with the sound of a wide brook gurgling outside.

Monday found us checking out the Pigeon Forge thrift stores, and investigating the local shows. Barbara Ann wanted to see a show, and who were we to stand in her way. We soon discovered that 3 tickets to a dinner show would cost us about $180!  What?  Sure enough!

But we also learned if we immediately went to hear a timeshare presentation, we could get the tix for a mere $20 each!  Hmmm, $120 discount for a 2-hour presentation, that's $60/hr tax free!  OK, we're in. Poor Bernie seemed shocked when I asked her if I could get a discount for paying cash for a timeshare (whihc I wasn't gonna do anyway, but I was truly curious).

"NO!" was the answer, and the question followed, "Do you always ask for a discount for cash?"

"Yes I do!"

Then on to the Show!  It was the Hatfields and McCoys, and was remarkably good. The stage slid around to make a large swimming pool, and about 20 minutes of the show was excellent high-diving-board choreography including retrieving dogs! The singing and dancing of the 90-minute produciton was good, and I guess that many of those folks were current or former U Tenn drama and dance majors.  The meal was pretty good, so a meal and a nice show for $20 seemed like a reasonable deal- particularly if we didn't buy a time share!

We made 2 trips around Cades Cove--one that night and one the following.  We saw a total of only 11 deer, but did see 2 bear and 3 coyotes and many turkeys.

The KEY on this trip was Brenda's sister.  She truly seemed to enjoy the first vacay outing in several years.  THAT made the trip a success!

Class Reunion- My First of 50 past

On 25 August, 2018, my Cherokee High School class of 1968 celebrated our 50^th year. And, true enough for most of those folks, it was the FIRST time I had laid eyes on them in 50 years! And, for a lot of these folks, my wife and I were sooooo very grateful for name tags!

It was a very nice well-planned event. The venue was perfect, the food excellent, and the desserts were nearly unbelievable!  To  be honest, it was a little awkward. There was only a bit of a program- which seemed fine, but there wasn't much to chat about. Kids, retirement, and then the conversation kinda lagged.

Fortunately, Saturday morning, before the afternoon reunion, Charles R and I got together for breakfast. We had been close hunting buddies in school, and had kept in touch with each other off and on through these 50 years. We caught up on hunting stuff, and then Charles had the excellent idea of visiting another one of our High School buddies, except this one lay dying in a nearby nursing home. Ed had been a great friend of our youth, and later in life had found his calling as a Methodist Minister and indeed had pastored our hometown church--Canton First Methodist for some 25 years. We visited mostly with Ed's wife, because Ed was chiefly unconscious. His wife was extremely warm and remarkably upbeat for the circumstances. After a 30-40 min visit, I offered to pray for us all, and we all, Ed included, joined hands for a prayer.  Ed died two days later.  I am glad we went by to see him one last time.

The Reunion featured a dove release to represent those classmates who had died before the Reunion. There were a few small competitions for most grand kids, etc. It was great fun, but as I said, it was a bit awkward.

I didn't expect that, but probably should have.  Live and Learn.